Superfast Essex Programme Update

We've reached one third of our overall Essex target with superfast broadband

Already more than 42,500 homes and businesses are enabled to access the Essex online super highway - and the number is going up every week.

It means the Superfast Essex programme has now rolled out superfast fibre broadband to one third of the total 120,000 homes and businesses it plans to reach across all three phases of the county's work programme - now worth a combined investment of more than £51million.

The Essex rollout has also played a part in helping the Government achieve its latest national milestone, reaching 3million across the UK.

Phase 2 rollout unveiled for 2016 start

The areas to be covered by the next phases of the Superfast Essex programme have now been revealed and work is set to start earlier than originally planned.

The interactive map now shows which areas will be covered by the next phase of the main programme rollout (Phase 2a - bright green), and the separate focused Rural Challenge Project (Phase 2b - orange).

The next phase of the rollout being delivered by BT will take superfast broadband to a further 51,000 homes and businesses. It has also been confirmed the original deployment dates have been brought forward by almost a year. It means the work on Phase 2a is now due to start straight after Phase 1 finishes, in summer next year, and complete in 2019.

At the moment the map will only indicate whether an area is in the plan to be covered by the rollout. We will update the map with more specific timescales and details about the structures to be upgraded once further planning has been carried out.

Essex ready to take on 'Rural Challenge'

A new Superfast Essex project set up to test alternative ways of bringing faster connectivity to rural communities is to start in November.

The Rural Challenge Project (RCP) will be delivered alongside the main programme rollout with pure fibre broadband provider Gigaclear. It will bring fibre direct to more than 4,500 properties in a selected pilot area in the east of Epping Forest District, providing ultrafast speeds of 50Mbps and above. The first homes and businesses are expected to be able to access the new network before Christmas with all work finishing the following year.

We'll be holding events to tell communities more prior to work starting, so watch this space!

This pilot approach has the potential to be used to help other rural areas of the county access better connectivity, however any future work would be subject to further funding being made available.

Which events should we go to next?

The Superfast Essex team has been out and about at events across Essex and we would like to add some more to our calendar.

We have attended a host of community and business networking events in the last few months including Hat Fest Village Festival, Tendring Hundred Show, Essex Food and Drink Festival, Sense of Place (Burnham), Tendring Business Showcase, Check-in at Stansted, Discovering Business in Essex (Chelmsford), and Harlow Business Exhibition.

Events provide a great opportunity for you to come and meet us direct.

Welcome to the latest quarterly Programme Update from...

Thank you for registering your interest in superfast broadband through the Make the Connection Survey or the GovDelivery newsletter sign-up process.

Has your life been improved by superfast broadband?

We're looking for real life examples of situations that have changed for the better because of superfast broadband.

So if your home life or business has benefited from the arrival of faster connectivity, we would really like to hear from you. Get in touch here.

Could you be a Broadband Champion?

We're still building up our team of local Broadband Champions to help us to share news and information among local communities as the Superfast Essex programme progresses.

So far we have 44 local representatives on board playing a key part in helping us keep local people informed about what is happening.

With more than 280 parish and town councils serving Essex, we are keen to welcome many more residents, parish councillors or parish clerks to our team of Champions.

If you would you like to be an ambassador for broadand in your village/parish/town so you can you tell your neighbours what's happening, update your parish council, share our messages on social media and spread word about events, get in touch here.

Business support

We're developing a programme of workshops to help businesses make the most of faster connectivity when it arrives. Watch this space for launch dates! We've also been attending many business networking groups and exhibitions over the last few months so continue to look out for us.

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